Fire Fighting Retardant Development and Manufacturing – Environmental Health and Safety Compliance Audits

In Kamloops, BC, Blackbird completed two environmental, health and safety compliance audits of a company that is involved in the development and manufacture of fire retardants and firefighting foam concentrates.  Fire retardants help slow, stop and prevent the start of wildfires by making wildland fuels non-flammable.  Retardants are produced at the Kamloops facility in a series of aboveground tanks and then loaded into fixed and rotor wing aircraft, or applied on the ground using standard engines or firefighting retardant units.  The company also supports a broad range of firefighting and training services and maintains their own fleet of ground-applied retardant units.  They also clean and repair fire-water sacks.

Blackbird’s audit process was based on recognized audit standards, including ISO and CSA. The objectives of the audit were to:

• Assess compliance with applicable EHS federal, provincial and local environmental regulatory requirements.
• Identify the potential need for the facility to obtain or revise regulatory permits.
• Identify potential areas of EHS hazards or risk.
• Provide recommendations to improve compliance performance.

The audit produced a number of findings and several best management practice recommendations.  None of the findings were assessed to be high risk, and the company was observed to have controls in place for work activities, preventing impacts to the environment and injuries to workers at the time of the audit.